UFC 164 salaries: Mir, Barnett top $1,126,000 payroll

MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) in September requested and today received the list of show and win purses from the Wisconsin Department Of Safety & Professional Services.

UFC 164 took place Aug. 31 at Milwaukee’s Bradley Center. It aired on pay-per-view following prelims on FOX Sports 1 and Facebook.

Mir received a guaranteed $200,000 to fight Barnett, who received a guaranteed $160,000 in his first fight back in the UFC after more than 11 years. Barnett stopped Mir less than two minutes into the first round in what Mir argued afterward was an early stoppage.

In the main event, then-lightweight champion Benson Henderson earned $110,000 in his title fight against Anthony Pettis, who made $54,000 to take the belt. Henderson would have doubled up with a victory.

Now, the usual disclaimer: The figures do not include deductions for items such as insurance, licenses and taxes. Additionally, the figures do not include money paid by sponsors, which can oftentimes be a substantial portion of a fighter’s income. They also do not include any other “locker room” or special discretionary bonuses the UFC oftentimes pays. Additionally, they don’t include any pay-per-view revenue some top fighters receive.

For example, as previously reported, UFC officials handed out additional $50,000 UFC 164 bonuses to Mendes (“KO of the Night”), Pettis (“Submission of the Night”), Lim (“Fight of the Night”) and Krauss (“Fight of the Night”).

In other words, the above figures are simply base salaries reported to the commission and do not reflect entire compensation packages for the event.

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